OSError, [Errno 13] Permission denied, thrown when I try to upload load file in django with apache/mod_wsgi server

Question

Here is the trace back

Environment:


Request Method: POST
Request URL: http://mysite.com/admin/content/author/add/

Django Version: 1.4.1
Python Version: 2.7.3
Installed Applications:
('grappelli',
 'filebrowser',
 'south',
 'django.contrib.auth',
 'django.contrib.contenttypes',
 'django.contrib.sessions',
 'django.contrib.messages',
 'django.contrib.staticfiles',
 'django.contrib.admin',
 'django.contrib.admindocs',
 'tinymce',
 'mailchimp',
 'content',
 'categorization',
 'mptt')
Installed Middleware:
('django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
 'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware')


Traceback:
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/handlers/base.py" in get_response
  111.                         response = callback(request, *callback_args, **callback_kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin/options.py" in wrapper
  366.                 return self.admin_site.admin_view(view)(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/utils/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view
  91.                     response = view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/views/decorators/cache.py" in _wrapped_view_func
  89.         response = view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin/sites.py" in inner
  196.             return view(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/utils/decorators.py" in _wrapper
  25.             return bound_func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/utils/decorators.py" in _wrapped_view
  91.                     response = view_func(request, *args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/utils/decorators.py" in bound_func
  21.                 return func(self, *args2, **kwargs2)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/transaction.py" in inner
  209.                 return func(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin/options.py" in add_view
  955.                 self.save_model(request, new_object, form, False)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/contrib/admin/options.py" in save_model
  709.         obj.save()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in save
  463.         self.save_base(using=using, force_insert=force_insert, force_update=force_update)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/base.py" in save_base
  551.                 result = manager._insert([self], fields=fields, return_id=update_pk, using=using, raw=raw)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/manager.py" in _insert
  203.         return insert_query(self.model, objs, fields, **kwargs)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/query.py" in insert_query
  1576.     return query.get_compiler(using=using).execute_sql(return_id)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py" in execute_sql
  909.         for sql, params in self.as_sql():
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py" in as_sql
  872.                 for obj in self.query.objs
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/fields/files.py" in pre_save
  249.             file.save(file.name, file, save=False)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/db/models/fields/files.py" in save
  86.         self.name = self.storage.save(name, content)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/files/storage.py" in save
  45.         name = self._save(name, content)
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/django/core/files/storage.py" in _save
  168.                 os.makedirs(directory)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py" in makedirs
  150.             makedirs(head, mode)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/os.py" in makedirs
  157.     mkdir(name, mode)

Exception Type: OSError at /admin/content/author/add/
Exception Value: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '//media/uploads'

Here is my model

class ArticleImage(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(
    verbose_name = _(u'Title'),
    help_text = _(u'The title for this article image'),
    max_length = 255,
)
alt_text = models.CharField(
    verbose_name = _(u'Alt. Text'),
    help_text = _(u'The alt text for this article image'),
    max_length = 255,
)
image = models.ImageField(
    verbose_name = _(u'Image'),
    upload_to = 'uploads/articleimages/'
)
article = models.ForeignKey(
    Article,
    verbose_name = _(u'Article'),
    help_text = _(u'The article to which this image belongs'),
)
class Meta:
    verbose_name = _(u'Image')
    verbose_name_plural = _(u'Images')

def __unicode__(self):
    return u'%s'%self.title

Here are related settings

MEDIA_ROOT = os.getcwd() + '/media/'
MEDIA_URL = '/media/'
DEBUG = False

Here is my httpd.conf for the media directory

Alias /media/ /home/quinton/Sites/prod/media/

<Directory /home/quinton/Sites/prod/media>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Directory>

This is not a problem when I run everything locally. Only when I push to my server and restart Apache does this occur. I have tried changing the file permission to 777 for the media directory, but still no luck.

Answer 1

os.getcwd() might not give you what you want. There's no guarantee that the working directory is, say, the one your settings.py file is in.

If you want to work from your settings file's location, then you can use os.path and __file__ in your settings.py file:

import os.path
# Get the directory the settings.py file is located in.
BASE_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))

As a bonus, other modules in your project can use this as well:

from django.conf import settings
print "Base directory:", settings.BASE_DIR